In-form South African is refusing to let his career be defined by medals alone as he prepares to lead his country at World Athletics Relays

You can see why Akani Simbine has been labelled as a “nearly man”. The South African sprinter has finished fourth in the last two 100m Olympic finals, while he was one place off the podium at the 2019 World Championships and came fifth in 2017 and 2022. Commonwealth gold from 2018 is the only individual title to have come his way in what has been a lengthy career at the top level of sprinting.

The 31-year-old’s medal collection received a welcome boost when he anchored his nation to 4x100m relay silver in Paris last summer, and he will be the focal point of the team once again as he leads them into the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou this coming weekend (May 10-11), where qualification for the World Championships in Tokyo later this year will be the top priority.

Simbine has been in China for the past three weeks and could barely have enjoyed a more positive start to the outdoor season, winning all three of the 100m races he has contested thus far with sub 10-second clockings. That streak has included victories at the Xiamen and Keqiao Diamond League meetings.

He is one of the most in-form athletes arriving for the World Relays and, though he admits that Olympic medal did no harm to his confidence levels, he is refusing to be defined by the contents of his trophy cabinet.

On a World Athletics video call with the world’s media in advance of Guangzhou, when asked if he felt that that “nearly man” tag had been removed last summer, he said: “Mentally, it's a good help to get the medal, but I came into the season with a different mentality last year.

“It was more coming into the season with a mentality of being content and being in a place where I'm happy with me, as Akani the athlete, and not letting my achievements define me in my career.

“I know what my career has shown to athletics. I have put myself to the surface, I have proved myself to be an elite athlete and I have proved myself to be an elite sprinter. I don't need a medal to confirm that. The medal is just the cherry on top and that's how I see it right now.

“Having that tag as the nearly man… for me, it's noise at the end of the day. People will say I'm the nearly man but I don't see it like that. I see it that I’m someone that's never given up on a dream, that's never given up on trying to be the best and I always show up.

“To be disappointed at being fourth in the world… my family said to me: ‘That's a bit crazy, because you're the fourth-fastest person that's alive. That's a big deal’. So that's where my mentality is. The medals, they're great, and they do a lot for me, they build my confidence, but the confidence has been there and it's just a shift of mentality and a shift of how I see myself.”

Simbine has no problem in identifying the reason for his fine early-season form.

“I think it comes from just having a really great indoors,” says the man who won 60m bronze at the World Indoor Championships, also in China, in Nanjing. “That has put me in a position to run what I'm running now. I'm running the sub 10s because of the work that was done in the 60s, but also because, naturally, my last 40m is really good on its own.”

However, he adds: “I'm running well, but I'm running well for the beginning of the season. This is not a peak or anything. It's just the beginning of the season, it's only May, and I'm not meant to be running 9.7/9.8 right now – that doesn't make sense when we are wanting to make sure we are at our best in September. Right now, it's just about getting the wins in and putting the races in so that, once I get into June, I can train well, I can train healthy, and I can build up to August and September.”

Simbine is giving little credence to the idea of being the one to beat in men’s sprinting at the moment, but he is also keen for his national team to make their mark in the coming days. They will be up against the likes of defending champions the USA, led by another in-form athlete in the form of Kenny Bednarek, and with a point to prove after their below-par Olympic showing last year, Paris gold medallists Canada and the British bronze medal-winning quartet.

Simbine, the 100m national record-holder, will be a key figure in what is a young South African squad. He will be joined by fellow Olympic medallists Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana, as well as national 200m champion Sinesipho Dambile, Retshidisitswe Mlenga and Tsebo Matsoso.

However, the elder statesman says: “I don't even have to see myself as a team leader. That's the title that they've just given to me. Everybody has a voice. Everybody has a job to do, but being the older, experienced guy helps. I come with the experience of being on the circuit. I know a lot of the guys that are part of the circuit, and then if I say: ‘Guys, just calm down’ they actually take my word for it, because they respect what I say and look up to what I say.

“I'll always back South Africa to be better. Right now, I'm excited about the South African team.”